47 EV miles

S

Spruce Goose

New Member
I have a brand new 2019 Clarity but I'm only able to get 43 EV miles per day. Is there a setting I'm missing or something I can do to ensure 47 miles per day?
 
The estimate is calculated as you drive. Lower power usage = better estimate. You may be accelerating too hard. Unless the person behind you is an ambulance, don't stomp on the pedal to get out of their way.
 
petteyg359 said:
The estimate is calculated as you drive. Lower power usage = better estimate. You may be accelerating too hard. Unless the person behind you is an ambulance, don't stomp on the pedal to get out of their way.
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At 100% charged in my garage the estimate is only 43 miles. I was under the impression the battery could hold 47 miles.

Is that the same for everyone else?
 
The biggest impact on range is running the heater. During the spring/fall with no heat or A/C I have gotten over 60 miles of EV range several times. mid-summer I get 55 miles. During mid-winter I have gotten as low as 38 miles of EV range. Driving styles can make a few miles difference but nothing like running the heater. Preconditioning the cabin while plugged into the garage in the morning can help quite a lot.
 
Spruce Goose said:
At 100% charged in my garage the estimate is only 43 miles. I was under the impression the battery could hold 47 miles.
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Your question is no different from a lead footed driver asking why they aren't getting the EPA gas mileage rating. If one has a 10 gallon tank and get 20 mpg, the meter shows 200 miles range. Slow down, get 25mpg, the meter learns and shows 250 mile range on the next fill up.

47 EV miles is an EPA estimation and may not reflect your driving or driving conditions, temperatures (ambient and HVAC), etc. My meter is usually in the 60-65 mile range because I'm mainly urban, (try to) drive efficiently most of the time, and don't need heat. In the next few weeks, the summer heat will begin in earnest and my EV estimation will go down because of heavy ac loads.

Make sense now?
 
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When I first got my Clarity, it read 38-40 miles and I was disappointed. Why doesn't Honda set the initial range to 47 and then, based on your conditions, it will go up and down? I don't know the answer but you will get there eventually. I regularly get 60+ in the summer and 40ish in the winter depending on my heating/cooling needs. I am very efficient on the gas and brake but everyone is different.
 
Not sure if the HV estimate bug also affects EV. Last fall I would get consistent 48 EV until I got the software patch applied. Then a few weeks after, range started to drop. Winter range was as low as 32 miles. When temps got warmer and I stopped using climate control (open a window) EV range went up again and is as high as 55 so far, specially if the previous drive was under 45 mph. If any portion is on a highway at higher speeds, range goes down to high 40s or low 50s.
 
So you'll get some different answers, because unfortunately, there are folks with differing experience in this regard.
My particular Clarity will *never* see 60 miles estimated EV range, just forget about it. It doesn't matter who drives it or how they drive it. That being said, some in the forums do see 60 or more miles, and good on them.

My Clarity is currently getting 43 estimated EV range with daytime temps around 70F. My average estimated EV range is 36. In the winter, i get about 25 and in the summer if I'm lucky I'll see about 47 occasionally. That's about it.

I'm not upset about this, it's just my reality. I have adjusted my expectations and been a lot happier about how it actually goes (at least for me, and my car).

-Dan
 
OK, Here is something I have been wondering since folks are often talking about driving styles vs. range. Any electrical engineers here? Working from a 40 year old memory of an electrical engineering class I believe Permanent Magnet Motors are most efficient from 60% load up to over 90%. I don't think the inverter becomes less efficient with higher loads. Taken in isolation this would suggest that being a (semi)lead-foot on the accelerator would not greatly impact range. I have purposely driven a week like a hypermiler and another week like I was in my old M5 and did not notice much difference of EV range at a 100% charge. NOTE: I was careful not to accelerate enough to cause the gas engine to kick on nor brake hard enough to engage the friction brakes. It is tricky with a full battery to slow down without using the friction brakes, luckily for me I have a 2 mile stint after leaving my garage that is slightly uphill with only one stop. Now that the morning temps are warming up I am sitting at 53 miles of range over the past few charges.
 
I have been under 30 miles of EV range for months... Weather is just starting to warm up, and I am just starting to see low 40's.
 
I think you need to look at it as an average mpg over the cold and hot months... the entire year you should get about 47mpg EV range. No different than a gas powered car. Drive a gas car at 40mph for 40 miles and you will have a higher MPG than driving 40 miles at 75MPH. The number they give you is an average not an exact MPG in all conditions and speeds.
 
Chuck said:
OK, Here is something I have been wondering since folks are often talking about driving styles vs. range. Any electrical engineers here? Working from a 40 year old memory of an electrical engineering class I believe Permanent Magnet Motors are most efficient from 60% load up to over 90%. I don't think the inverter becomes less efficient with higher loads. Taken in isolation this would suggest that being a (semi)lead-foot on the accelerator would not greatly impact range. I have purposely driven a week like a hypermiler and another week like I was in my old M5 and did not notice much difference of EV range at a 100% charge. NOTE: I was careful not to accelerate enough to cause the gas engine to kick on nor brake hard enough to engage the friction brakes. It is tricky with a full battery to slow down without using the friction brakes, luckily for me I have a 2 mile stint after leaving my garage that is slightly uphill with only one stop. Now that the morning temps are warming up I am sitting at 53 miles of range over the past few charges.
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I am actually an electrical engineer, but in the computer design field and I don't know or remember much motor theory from a long time ago :) In an ideal physics model, yes, accelerating faster or slower to a given speed takes the same amount of energy. But in the real world there are still losses between the battery, inverter, motor, wheels, and the air that matter. And regenerative braking is not 100% efficient (nor in the clarity can you be sure when the friction brakes are partially active, as Honda has done a better job blending them than most).

Still, EVs are less susceptible to speed variance and acceleration than ICE cars, which is why most EVs and hybrids get better mileage in the city than on the highway. I suspect the biggest factor in range is overall speed and the resulting wind resistance, tire rolling resistance (which can also vary by road surface), elevation gain/loss, and ambient temperature affecting both battery efficiency and climate control. Heat in particular seems to be a big drain (where in an ICE vehicle it's "free").

I wouldn't be surprised if driving 25-40MPH on local roads without a lot of stopped time and no heat got around 3.8 miles per kWh or more, while driving 75-80MPH on the freeway with the heat on was closer to 2.5 miles per kWh. At ~15kWh usable in our batteries, at would correspond to a range of to 38 to 57 miles, which is in the ballpark of what people report for high/low ranges.

I'm learning not to put too much stock in the range estimate; it is just that, an estimate based on a few previous drives (and sometimes data from the current drive. It was interesting regenerating down mountain road descending 4000 feet -- at the bottom I had 50 miles of EV range...at 3/4 battery SOC. Yeah, no).
 
Last week when the weather warmed up, my guess-o-meter showed an estimate of 50 miles for the first time . :) The weather was warmer than it has been since I bought it last October It has been as low as 28 miles.

To answer the OP's question, it all depends on multiple variables of which ambient temperature is very significant.
 
Now that I’ve owned my Clarity for a year, I can say the average number of miles per charge estimated by the car is very close to 47. It has ranged from a high of 71 in the summer to a low of 28 in the winter.

I do find it interesting that some folks have expected the exact EPA estimate for EV miles per charge every charge, but would never expect the exact EPA estimate for mpg every fill up in a gas engined vehicle.
 
One more post on this. I have come to peace with this issue (estimated and actual EV range being maybe relatively low). The short of my story is I really use an average of 20 miles of range per day. I get that even in the winter, and even if my car theoretically or should get more. For awhile I tried to meticulously adjust habits and change usage to get the EV range up. All my adjustments didn't account for much. They do a non-zero amount, but not worth it in my book. The only one that really matters a bunch (IMO) is the heater/defrost use or lackthereof, that and terrain-- I do live up a steep hill which I know impacts range.

Anyway, long story short, the range I get works fine for me. It means that my weekday commute is almost always all electric which is great. If I do burn gas, I burn way less than I used to. I accept that I may never see some of the awesome range some Clarity owners see. I absolutely love the car, and no regrets.
 
Chuck said:
OK, Here is something I have been wondering since folks are often talking about driving styles vs. range. Any electrical engineers here? Working from a 40 year old memory of an electrical engineering class I believe Permanent Magnet Motors are most efficient from 60% load up to over 90%. I don't think the inverter becomes less efficient with higher loads. Taken in isolation this would suggest that being a (semi)lead-foot on the accelerator would not greatly impact range. I have purposely driven a week like a hypermiler and another week like I was in my old M5 and did not notice much difference of EV range at a 100% charge. NOTE: I was careful not to accelerate enough to cause the gas engine to kick on nor brake hard enough to engage the friction brakes. It is tricky with a full battery to slow down without using the friction brakes, luckily for me I have a 2 mile stint after leaving my garage that is slightly uphill with only one stop. Now that the morning temps are warming up I am sitting at 53 miles of range over the past few charges.
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Another EE here, and I agree with JCA.

There are many factors that affect EV range. The efficiency of the electric motor is not high on that list. That effect pales in comparison with wind resistance, rolling resistance, and all those real-world influences that we usually ignore when doing our theoretical calculations. Temperature dwarfs all of these. Batteries have a much more pronounced sweet spot regarding temperature than motors regarding load percentage, plus if it's hot or cold you've got to adjust the temperature in the cabin to make the driver happy. When you combine the factors over which you have no control (weather, terrain, etc.) with the ones over which you have at least limited control (jackrabbit starts, high speed, etc.) the range can vary quite a lot between different drives and drivers.
 
JCA said:
I suspect the biggest factor in range is overall speed and the resulting wind resistance,
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This. Speed kills.... range.

Just for grins before going home last evening and since my charging is now free, I took my Clarity on a quick highway drive at 75mph (return leg into a 25mph headwind) from full to about 10 miles left on range. My previous EV estimates of around 60-65 miles dropped this morning to 51. Is there something now suddenly wrong with my battery? NOPE.
 
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